There are many good books on nursing and infant care. Get them before your baby is born and become well acquainted with their contents. They contain the basics, and are available at all those lonely moments when your doctor, partner, best friend, and mother are not. Do remember that solicited (and often unsolicited) advice freely given may vary from person to person and book to book. Tender all you read and hear with as much common sense and a sense of humor as you can muster at the moment.

Pediatricians are quite accustomed to receiving frequent calls during those first few weeks, especially if this is your first child. Pediatric nurses and pediatric nurse practitioners may have more time and are easier to reach than the doctor. They are also very good at helping decipher if this is a medical emergency or just a situation that some good, sound advice or listening will handle. Many county health departments and some hospitals have nurses who will visit with you in your home. Check this source before the baby is born, and have the number handy for ready reference. The La Leche League is composed of women dedicated to be of help to nursing mothers. If you cannot locate a group near you, their book, The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding, is excellent, and is one of many publications offered by them. Often childbirth educators have an open mind, a good listening ear, and some practical advice. Support, too, might come from couples who were in the prenatal classes with you.

Visitors may be pleasant, and in some instances necessary, but restrict them! They take energy, too. With adequate rest, this first tenuous period will pass more smoothly. Re-thinking priorities will be a necessity now. A dirty house is easier to treat than a depressed mother or cranky child. If that dirt really bothers you, however, maybe a high school girl would be less expensive than a professional cleaning firm. Relatives as helpers work well for some, while not for others. Stock your freezer with enough food to get you throu8h the first two weeks with only the briefest of trips to the store and kitchen. Soups, one-dish meals, stews and casseroles are nutritious, and if ready to go directly into the oven, they will allow you to get a decent meal on the table and improve your outlook about feeding the family.

When it comes to taking care of yourself, Kegel exercises are invaluable in helping heal an episiotomy (or tearing or perineal stretching). They will also improve your sexual relations when intercourse is resumed. No matter how happy any woman is to have her baby, most are also quite eager to have their pre-pregnancy shapes return. Being able to wear only maternity clothes is depressing, especially if the child is already over a few weeks old. Many women have had those depressed feelings, talked them out, worked their body a bit, and are now trim again. To begin with, after delivery, on that very first day, pull yourself up as tall as possible, stand straight, hold in your abdomen, hold it in farther while you take several natural breaths, then relax. Repeat this throughout the day and make it a permanent habit. As soon as your health care provider feels you are ready, resume more strenuous exercises. The abdominal strengthening exercises learned by a father during a Lamaze class was later taught to his entire college swim squad as part of their training. It worked for them as well as for hundreds of new mothers.

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